Many cities target night life -- but weekend sting in Seattle called 'hostile'

By ANGELA GALLOWAY AND CASEY MCNERTHNEY, P-I REPORTERS

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, September 10, 2007

If Mayor Greg Nickels gets his way, the City Council will vote Monday to require that Seattle bars and clubs obtain special business licenses -- enabling him to quickly close down troublemakers.

It is somewhat unusual for a city to carve out the night-life industry for its own set of regulations -- but it's becoming more common, especially among cities with dense night-life districts.

Nickels' plan would allow his office to immediately suspend licenses of clubs and bars that violate specific operating standards. Already, the state has the authority to pull liquor licenses of troublesome clubs. And the city can seek court intervention against businesses that are "public nuisances." But Nickels says those processes are too slow or too lenient.

Some Oregon Residents Upset at Prospect of Pumping Their Own GasBuzz 60

Doug Baldwin playcallingBy Michael-Shawn Dugar, SeattlePI

Van Crashes Into Pedestrians Injuring SixAssociated Press

US military to accept transgender recruits after Trump drops appealEuronews

Snow on Christmas Eve, 2017Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Ice carving at WinterfestSeattle Post-Intelligencer

Amtrak derails near OlympiaGrant Hindsley / SeattlePI

Golden retriever meets Darth Vader and EwokSeattle Post-Intelligencer

While council members considered his proposal over recent weeks, Nickels and the Seattle Police Department he directs have publicized venues and areas they say are most problematic. They invited news crews along on late-night club tours. They published lists of the most crime-ridden businesses. And on Saturday, they concluded a broad sting operation, arresting more than a dozen club and bar employees.

Club employees and advocates, who dubbed the sting the "Saturday Night Massacre," say the operation had major flaws.

"I talked to the Pioneer Square guys, and they were packed that night," he said. "The timing of this created a security threat."

Vice Capt. Dan Oliver said employees and all 14 bars were cooperative Saturday, and officers gave bar owners time to call in other employees.

Andrew also questioned why police didn't address the patrons they said were overserved.

For example, one 25-year- old woman was "obviously intoxicated when she entered" Tommy's on Aug. 17, according to a police report. Detectives wrote they watched the woman stumbling around the club with several drinks, and at one point the woman took off her T-shirt.

Police said she was not cited because the detectives who witnessed the incident were undercover. Also, Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson said bartenders need to take responsibility. "It's not a crime to be drunk in public in Seattle," he said.

Tabella Restaurant and Lounge attorney David Osgood said the club was being targeted to push Nickels' political agenda.

The city's confrontational stance is a badge of dishonor for Seattle, some say.

Nationwide, "as urban areas become revitalized, you're having the stresses between nightclubs and residents. This is not unique to the city of Seattle," said Tim Hatley, lobbyist for the Seattle Nightlife and Music Association. "Where Seattle has failed, and we saw it this last weekend, is that rather than working with the (night life) industry, they've gone out and are creating this very hostile environment."

Opponents of Nickels' proposal say the city should simply do a better job enforcing rules, rather than burdening all clubs and bars with another layer of red tape.

But Regina LaBelle, Nickels' legal counsel, said the mayor's plan would create efficiencies and coordination the city needs to make use of such rules.

"It gives us a system in order to enforce all those ordinances -- plus it gives us more of a coordination because at the end of the day, there is a license that (can be suspended)," LaBelle said.

And some cities already go further than Nickels has proposed.

For example, San Diego also requires club promoters to get special licenses, she said.

Here are some strategies other cities have tried:

San Francisco requires bars and clubs with live music or DJs to obtain "entertainment permits." To qualify, venues must submit a security plan and meet other operational conditions. About 1,000 business hold such permits there, Bob Davis, director of the city's entertainment commission said in an interview last year.

As Nickels has proposed, San Francisco holds clubs accountable for their patrons' behavior beyond the property line, such as litter or rowdy patrons. Sometimes, Davis said, "We say you need to send the security guard to the corner (at closing time) to make sure that people move through the residential neighborhood and leave. They will act better if somebody's watching."

One major difference between San Francisco's system and that proposed by Nickels is in who controls licenses. In San Francisco, a commission oversees permits. Here, Nickels wants to grant authority to suspend licenses to a single bureaucrat.

Portland does not require clubs and bars to obtain special business licenses or permits. But city officials can crack down with a Portland ordinance that specifically regulates businesses that sell liquor. If a business violates any of a list of standards three times within 30 days -- such as a convenience store that repeatedly serves drunk people -- officials can require it to draft a plan for dealing with that problem. Usually the business cooperates for fear of getting in trouble, said Stephanie Reynolds, program coordinator for the city's crime prevention center.

Los Angeles requires businesses that sell alcohol and offer live entertainment to get a special zoning permit, said a spokeswoman for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

San Diego requires businesses with liquor licenses that offer live music, DJs or dancing to also get entertainment permits. The permits require that the businesses adhere to security, hours, noise, occupancy and other standards, said Paul Cooper, counsel to the city's police chief. Several times a year, a violator will lose its license.